HK: Minibond investors misled, says prosecutor

A bank manager appeared in court yesterday accused of misleading six investors, some barely educated and retired, to buy HK$6.8 million of Lehman Brothers minibonds.

Cheung Kwai-kwai, 47, a former personal financial services manager at Bank of China (Hong Kong), pleaded not guilty in the District Court to nine counts of fraudulently or recklessly inducing the victims to invest money between 2005 and 2008, violating the Securities and Futures Ordinance.

Senior prosecutor Jonathan Man Tak-ho said that Cheung misrepresented to the victims the minibonds were "principal protected", "of very low risk" or "highly secured" while experts said the products were complicated structures whose principal - the sum invested - was not protected, meaning investors could lose all of their money.

The alleged victims are now aged 51 to 78. Three were retirees when they were induced to buy the products, the court heard on the first day of the trial.

Read the following link for the full story:
http://www.lbv.org.hk/content/pages/posts/minibond-investors-misled-says-prosecutor10705.php